Courses
Dr. Song teaches courses on urban spatial structure, land use and environmental planning, land use regulations, contemporary urbanism in China, and Geographic Information Systems.
PLAN 499: Comparative Globalization: Transforming Urban China
PLAN 591/GEORG 591: Advanced Geographic Information Systems
PLAN 714: Urban Spatial Structure
PLAN 741: Land Use and Environmental Planning
PLAN 744: Development and Environmental Mgmt
Research and professional activities
Dr. Song's research interests includes land use planning, growth management, economics of land use regulations, spatial analysis of urban spatial structure and urban form, land use and transportation integration, and how to accommodate research in above fields by using planning supporting systems such as GIS and other computer-aided planning tools.
Dr. Song's current research projects address domestic and international issues in the areas of impetus of urbanization and urban growth, efficacy of land and housing markets, effects of growth management regulations, and integration of urban land use and transportation plans. Song's current research projects also document evolution of China's urban land and housing policies and urban spatial structure in the era of China's transition toward a market economy. She directs the Program on Chinese Cities (PCC), a new initiative within DCRP and the Center for Urban & Regional Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. PCC conducts research and training aimed at better understanding the impacts of rapid urban growth on China's built and natural environments and explores ways to make this process more equitable, transparent, and socially and ecologically sustainable. Dr. Song's research projects have been supported by U.S. National Science Foundation, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.
Dr. Song has served as a Research Affiliate at the National Center for Smart Growth at the University of Maryland and a Faculty Fellow at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. She has also served as a consultant on urban planning for the city government of Shenzhen, and a consultant on land use and transportation integration for Beijing Municipal Institute of City Planning and Design in China. Dr. Song also had professional experiences as a planner and an architect in China. For more recent and frequent updates on her research in Chinese, click here.
Selected Recent and Ongoing Research Projects:
+ Advanced Modeling System for Assessing Long-Term Regional Development Patterns, Travel Behavior, Emissions, and Air Quality
This three-year U.S. Environmental Protection Agency supported study employs Charlotte, NC as a case study to model the effects of alternative development patterns (compact development versus urban sprawl), implemented regionally over a planning horizon of 50 years, on the spatial characteristics and quantity of emissions from on-road mobile sources and rail transit vehicles, and levels of tropospheric ozone and fine particulate matter.
+ New Urban Development and Natural Hazard Mitigation
This three-year National Science Foundation supported study compares hazard mitigation practices used by New Urban developments as a compact urban form to conventional low-density developments and provides guidelines on how New Urban developments can be designed to attain the benefits of New Urbanism without increasing the threat from hazards.
+ Property Tax or Land Tax: Possible Cure for Urban Sprawl?
This two-year Lincoln Institute of Land Policy supported study employs a theoretical model as well as an empirical analysis to relate size of urban areas to property taxes and provides implications on the influences of different taxes on urban expansion.
+ Plan Integration Projects
Both one-year Beijing Municipal Institute of City Planning and Design supported study and two-year Lincoln Institute of Land Policy supported study provide guidelines for efficient social and economic, land use, and transportation plan integration and develop modeling tools for improved allocation of land uses and transportation investments to meet social and economic needs.
Selected publications
Articles
+ "Urban Villages and Housing Values in China." Song, Y. and Y. Zenou (2012), Regional Science and Urban Economics 42: 495-505. Abstract
+ "Social Diversity and Construction Era of Neighborhoods with traditional Design Features." Mile, R., Y. Song, and L. Frank (2010), Journal of Urbanism 3: 19-38. Abstract
+ "How Do Differences in Property Taxes within Cities Affect Urban Sprawl?" Song, Y. and Y. Zenou (2009), Journal of Regional Science 49: 801-831. Abstract
+ "Do physical neighborhood characteristics matter in predicting traffic stress and health outcome?" Song, Y., G. Gee, Y. Fan, and D. Takeuchi (2007), Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behavior 10: 164-176. Abstract
+ "Quantitative classification of neighborhoods: The neighborhoods of new single-family homes in the Portland Metropolitan Area." Song, Y. and G.J. Knaap (2007), Journal of Urban Design 12 (1): 1 - 24. Abstract
+ "The spillover effects of growth management: Constraints on new housing construction." Song, Y. (2007), in C. Connerly, T. Chapin, and H. Higgins (Eds.), Growth Management in Florida: Planning for Paradise. (pp. 155-167). Ashgate Publishing Limited.
+ "Property taxation and urban sprawl." Song, Y. and Y. Zenou (2006), Journal of Urban Economics 60: 519-534. Abstract
+ "Smart growth and urban development pattern: A comparative study." Song, Y. (2005), International Regional Science Review, 28 (2): 239-265. Abstract
+ "Measuring urban form: Is Portland winning the war on sprawl?" Song, Y. and G.J. Knaap, (2004), Journal of American Planning Association, 70 (2): 210 - 225. Abstract
+ "New urbanism and housing values: A disaggregated assessment." Song, Y. and G.J. Knaap, (2003), Journal of Urban Economics, 54: 218 - 238. Abstract
Books
+ A Guidebook to Plan Evaluation. Song, Y., and Y. Chen (in Chinese) (2012) China Architecture and Building Press.
+ Smart Urban Growth for China. Song, Y., and C. Ding (Eds) (2009) Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.
+ Urbanization in China: Critical Issues in an Era of Rapid Growth. Song, Y., and C. Ding (Eds.) (2007) Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.
+ Emerging Land and Housing Markets in China. C. Ding and Y. Song (Eds) (2005) Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.